[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Woodstown 3-14-06 as Ord. No. 2006-621. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Be it ordained by the Borough Council of Woodstown Borough, County of Salem, State of New Jersey, as follows:
A. 
There is hereby established a "Municipal Open space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund," (hereafter referred as Open Space Fund) which fund shall be administered by the Woodstown Borough Council.
B. 
The Borough Council is authorized, by majority vote, to select, acquire, develop, and/or maintain specified lands, easements and/or development rights to open space within the borough in the manner it deems appropriate within the limits set forth below under Section 66-2D., Use of Funds. The Borough Council shall determine the amount of funds to be allocated for each of the various purposes.
A. 
A special tax levy shall be added to the total borough tax rate in the amount not to exceed two cents ($.02) per $100 of net valuation taxable through local purpose taxation. The tax rate shall be established annually prior to adoption of the budget. The revenue from the levy shall be deposited into the Open Space Fund. A separate bank account shall be opened and maintained for this purpose. Any and all interest accruing shall remain in the Fund and may be utilized for the above described purposes.
B. 
The Borough Council may, in its discretion, deposit additional municipal, state, and federal monies into the Open Space Fund, which deposits shall then be subject to all of the provisions governing the Open Space Fund.
C. 
The Open Space Fund shall be permitted to accept donations and testamentary bequests.
D. 
Use of funds. Funds accumulated with the Open Space Fund shall be utilized for preservation of open space, creation and maintenance of recreation areas and/or for public historic preservation within Woodstown Borough. The funds may also be spent for the creation of greenways and trails to promote passive recreation opportunities for the residents of Woodstown Borough as provided in N.J.S.A. 40:12-15.7.
No property or interest in land acquired with funds from the Open Space Fund shall be leased, sold or otherwise disposed of by the borough unless it is needed for another public use or otherwise furthers the purposes of the Open Space Fund. If such a sale, lease or conveyance is made, the Borough Council shall be required to place the monies received into the Open Space Fund as provided in N.J.S.A. 40:12-15.9.
There is hereby established a Open Space Advisory Committee to review and recommend parcels of land and interests therein that could benefit from the Open Space Funds for the public good. The word "Committee" when used by itself in this chapter refers to the Open Space Advisory Committee.
A. 
Appointment, membership, term.
(1) 
The Open Space Advisory Committee shall consist of five members and one alternate member who shall be residents of the borough.
(2) 
The term of office of all members shall be one year which appointments shall be made annually at the borough's reorganization meeting.
(3) 
In making appointments to the Committee, the Mayor and Borough Council shall attempt, but shall not be required, to select individuals who have an interest in promoting the purposes of this chapter and to create a distribution of membership which, as nearly as possible, should include one member from the following categories: Joint Environmental Commission, Planning Board, Recreation Committee, Borough Council, Sewerage Authority. The Borough Council may fill any vacancy or make any new appointment from within any of the categories without regard to the category to which the former member belonged.
B. 
Duties and functions.
(1) 
The Open Space Advisory Committee shall annually prepare and submit to the Borough Council an Open Space Plan for the Borough of Woodstown. It shall develop an inventory of open space properties within the borough and evaluate and prioritize such open space properties through the development of appropriate criteria. Such plan shall consist of a parcel ranking, as well as recommendations concerning the nature of the interest in such real estate to be acquired, if any, and the purposes of which such land should be utilized.
(2) 
The Committee shall assist the borough in the establishment of an Open Space Tracking Program to catalog the state of privately owned open space in the borough and record the borough's progress with respect to open space preservation.
(3) 
The Committee shall provide guidance and support to the borough and Planning Board on issues and matters of open space.
(4) 
The Committee shall periodically review its functions and submit a recommendation to the Borough Council as to whether additional duties should be assigned or delegated to the Committee.
(5) 
The Committee shall have such other duties as the Borough Council may assign to it from time to time.
In the event that no property is acquired or financed under this chapter for a period of five consecutive years, then the Borough Council shall conduct a review and issue a report with recommendations and conclusions concerning the continuation of the Open Space Trust Fund.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such decision shall not affect the remaining portions of this chapter.